The Accident

by Kendall WitherspoonThe Waters
Third Place, May 2015
Judged by Lesley Wheeler

I’ll stand right here,
at the window,
until I know
for sure
if that piece
of shaggy bark
is really a snowy
woodpecker.

Then I’ll call
my daughter
about her mother.

When big things happen to people, our perceptions heighten and we fixate on small things like a “piece/ of shaggy bark.” “The Accident” shows rather than tells us the speaker’s emotional condition, deriving power from vivid understatement. --Lesley Wheeler